We love to hear all the amazing ways that companies and organizations are making use of the Screenleap API. We highlight TechChange today in the first of our API Success Story series.

TechChange is a Washington, DC-based organization that provides technology training to humanitarian aid and international development workers. Their interactive e-learning platform has been used by more than 600 students from more than 70 countries. Through their courses, students have learned how to use technology to foster collaboration, transform conflicts, fight diseases, monitor elections, distribute food, and more. Their story has been featured in The Economist.

We got the opportunity to catch up with TechChange’s CTO, William Chester, to discuss the company and how they are using Screenleap to extend the real-time capabilities of their online learning platform.

Can you tell us a little about yourself and your role at TechChange?

As CTO of TechChange, I am responsible for development of the online learning platform. I took a somewhat circuitous route to this position. I’ve always been fascinated by computers and technology: I had the good fortune of having an older brother who would take apart all the electronics we had at home. I’d need to put it back together again in order to use it and I learned a lot about how things worked in the process. After studying International Relations and Chinese as an undergrad, I spent two years working at a foundation in China. I then moved back to DC and joined the TechChange team, where I draw on both my background in technology and my experience in international development.

Why did TechChange decide to build its own e-learning platform?

We researched the existing online learning platforms, but didn’t find any that met our needs. We saw an opportunity to create an online learning platform that was more engaging, social, and interactive, so we decided to build it. Our current platform puts a strong emphasis on live engagement with subject matter experts, practitioners, and other course participants.

How did you learn about Screenleap?

We initially used an alternative solution for screen sharing but found their Flash-based technology and lack of deep integration and customization a major frustration for our experts and participants. We began an exhaustive search for an alternative and found Screenleap. We were immediately drawn to Screenleap’s API integration and HTML5 technology stack.

Why did you decide to integrate with the Screenleap API?

Our former screen sharing solution required no less than six steps for a presenter to launch a screen share. This was often cumbersome, confusing, and frustrating. Even when it did work, it relied on Flash, which we found to be buggy, resource intensive, and generally unreliable. We use Screenleap’s API to implement a one-step solution that integrates seamlessly with our existing architecture. Using the powerful API, we have much greater control of our screen shares. The fact that Screenleap is built on HTML5 technologies and does not rely on Flash has greatly increased the flexibility and reliability of our system.

In addition, Screenleap’s support has been outstanding from the very beginning. We’ve always received prompt, detailed, and informative responses to all of our inquiries. For all of these reasons we are thrilled to be using the Screenleap API in our platform.

What are you doing with your Screenleap integration? What problems are you solving with the API?

Incorporating global guest expert presentations into our courses is integral to our learning model. Because we draw on participants and experts from all over the world, we need a flexible solution that allows presenters to engage with our diverse user base in real-time. In a typical course we will invite 5-15 speakers to present to our participants about specific topics we’re covering in a course. Participants can follow along and ask questions via text chat or audio/video.

The power of Screenleap is allowing technology experts to seamlessly demo their projects, tools, and platforms for a global audience. We also set up virtual office hours where course participants can drop by and view interactive demos from TechChange staff about how to use the latest tech tools for development. The ability to demonstrate these tools and approaches using Screenleap has been an invaluable addition to our platform and the learning outcomes of our participants.

This week we are going to cover two new security features available to Premium Account subscribers: broadcast restriction and broadcast locking. Broadcast restriction allows you to limit access to your screen share to viewers with an access code that you specify, and broadcast locking allows you to prevent new viewers from joining a screen share that is already in progress.

Broadcast Restriction

When we launched the broadcast feature a year ago, one of the most requested enhancements was the ability to limit who could access a broadcast. With the latest update, it is now possible to require viewers to enter an access code before being allowed to view a broadcast.

You can use access codes to create broadcasts for different groups of people. For example, if you have three broadcasts scheduled (at 11am, 12pm, and 1pm), you could do the following:

Choose a different access code for each time slot.

Send out invitations with a link to your broadcast page along with the corresponding code.

At 11am, enter the access code assigned to your 11am time slot and start your broadcast. Only people with the 11am access code will be able to view it.

At 12am, end your first broadcast and start a new broadcast with the code for the 12pm time slot. Only people with the 12pm access code will be able to view the second broadcast.

If a broadcast runs over, the viewers for the next broadcast will not be able to gain access until the current broadcast ends. Please sign up for a Premium Account to use the broadcast restriction feature.

Broadcast Locking

In addition to restricting a broadcast with an access code, you can also lock a broadcast to prevent new users from joining. Simply start your broadcast without entering an access code and wait for all your viewers to join. Once your viewers have joined, you can click the Lock broadcast button found in the sharing instructions. No new viewers will be able to view your broadcast unless you unlock it by clicking the Unlock broadcast button.

Subscribers on Premium Accounts will also be able to customize the messages that are shown to visitors when you are in the middle of a restricted or locked broadcast. To customize the additional broadcast page messages, click on the Customize your broadcast page link after signing in. You will be able to select the other broadcast messages from the select box at the top of the broadcast customization page.

Stay Tuned for More

We hope you find the new additions to the broadcast feature useful. Next week, we will preview our new app that allows you to share your screen from a Mac without needing to have Java installed. As always, we would love to hear from you so please share your feedback with us!

About a year ago, we launched our broadcasting feature, which made it possible for you to share your screen to a handle that you select (i.e., http://www.screenleap.com/your_company). Viewers can view your broadcast simply by going to your broadcast page. When you are not actively broadcasting, your broadcast page serves to welcome your visitors: previously, a visitor would see a generic message; with this update, you can now customize the message that is shown to those visitors.

How It Works

You will need to sign up for a free Screenleap account in order to use the broadcast feature. After signing in to the Screenleap site, you will now see a Customize your broadcast page link. Clicking on this link will show you what visitors to your broadcast page will see when you are not broadcasting.

You can customize the message shown to visitors by clicking the Edit button at the top of the page and then on the name or description to update the message.

Click the Update button when you are done to save your changes. If you are a user on a Premium Account, you will also have the option of customizing the messages that are shown to visitors when you are in the middle of a restricted or locked broadcast (see next week’s blog entry for more details).

Ideas For Use

You can use the broadcast page message to further engage your visitors:

Contact Information – Put your contact info so that your visitors will know how to get in touch when you are not broadcasting.

Simple Meeting Scheduling – After you schedule a presentation, update your broadcast page message with information about the presentation so that viewers who show up early will know that they are in the right place.

Next week, we will cover two additional broadcasting features that we just released: broadcast restriction (the ability to restrict a broadcasts to viewers with an access code that you specify) and broadcast locking (the ability to lock an active broadcast to prevent new viewers from joining).